Sri Lanka Opt to Bat, Patel Debuts

Galle: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat in the first cricket Test against England at the Galle International Stadium on Monday.

The tourists awarded a Test cap to all-rounder Samit Patel, who will bat in the middle-order and bowl left-arm spin, the third slow bowler in the ranks after Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar.

Patel was preferred over Ravi Bopara, who could have played only as a specialist batsman after a side strain ruled him out of bowling in the series.

Sri Lanka left out Chamara Silva, who hit 163 against the tourists in a practice match last week, to play young batsman Dinesh Chandimal.

Teams

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Dinesh Chandimal, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Suranga Lakmal, Chanaka Welegedara, Suraj Randiv, Rangana Herath.

England: Andrew Strauss (captain), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Samit Patel, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Monty Panesar, Graeme Swann.

Scores	Upcoming	Results
No games being played at this time. 1st ODI - Ireland v West Indies - May 21, 09:45 GMT Only Test - England v Zimbabwe - May 22-25, 10:00 GMT 2nd Test - Bangladesh v Zimbabwe at Bangladesh won by an innings and 106 runs 1st Test - Bangladesh v Zimbabwe at Zimbabwe won by 3 wickets

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